living school

homeschooling is not easy. there are days when we just can't seem to get much accomplished. times when we have had about all we can take of our togetherness. emotions flare up when long division seems impossible and conjugating a latin verb aggravating. tears may fall over cursive writing. i sometimes forget the big picture and get lost in the tedious everyday tasks.

one of our main objectives has been to instill in our children a curiosity about the beautiful world our Creator has given us and give them a love of learning. i didn't want that to be stamped out through long days sitting in a desk filling out worksheets. but after homeschooling for the past 8 years, have we accomplished what we set out to do? this week has been so encouraging as i see in my kids that spark, that interest in finding out more...

i was telling B about some plans i was making for the next school year, to read the laura ingalls wilder books with her and learn about the pioneering days of our country. ever since then she has been begging me to get started, following me around with Little House in the Big Woods. how can i resist that? of course we launched right in...on the first day of summer vacation. i am scrambling now to gather supplies for butter churning and bread making, and making a corn cob doll just like laura had. B made a list of all the woodland animals mentioned in the first two chapters and is busy reading about the wolf, printing wolf pictures from the internet, and drawing wolf tracks to go along with her report. ya gotta love a kid who begs for the library!

S is busy drawing tadpoles and the life cycle of the frog into his nature journal. we have books checked out from the library on amphibians and he is learning about the anatomy of the frog using The Zoology Coloring Book.

both S and B have requested that we continue to work on our science studies: Exploring Creation with Astronomy. we are studying the planets and i am looking forward to star gazing on warm summer nights!



C is working on bird studies and horsemanship merit badges for scouts. here is the bird feeder he designed and built. and he is also reading some biographies of some missionaries.



the discouragement i spoke about in the first paragraph is certainly not our every day, but at times those things can get me down so i don't see the positive and i forget our main objectives. but today with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye, i see that the spark has caught on. S will be following C away to school in the fall, but i know that i have given them the gift i wanted for them: they truly love learning. we don't have "home" school or "summer" school. school isn't something we do for an hour and set aside on the shelf. we live school where everything we do is an opportunity to learn and grow and explore.

everyday gift: living school